Ask a Book Question: The Fifth in a Series (The Russians Are Coming)

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All of a sudden I’ve worked my way pretty quickly through the pile of books I have lying around, so I was digging through my shelves looking for what to read next. I dug up an old copy of Fyodor Dostoevsky’sThe Brothers Karamazov that I’d come across on a book finding expedition a while back. The Russians occupy a gaping hole among books that I have read. I have never read any of the 19th century classics, and I figure I ought to start sooner rather than later. However, staring at this brick-like copy of Karamazov, I became intimidated as I wondered if this was the best place to begin my education in Russian literature. Yet, I did not panic; instead I emailed my friend Brian, who I happen to know is a great connoisseur of Russian Lit. Here is what I wrote:

I’ve never read any of the classic Russian writers, and I want to start, but I’m not sure which one to start with. Any ideas? I’ve got The Brothers Karamazov… so I’m thinking of starting with that.

my favorite russian writer is Dostoevsky (chekhov is second) and my favorite novel is definitely The Brothers Karamazov. it might be my favorite novel of all time, but i think you should start with Crime and Punishment a much more conventional and accessible book. not that i think you couldn’t handle The Brothers, but just think you might wanna ease your way in… check out Gogol’s short stories “The Overcoat” and “The Nose” [in The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol] and Chekhov’s story “Ward No. 6” [in Stories] is a masterpiece, as are many (most) of his stories.

Thanks, Brian… If anyone else has insights on the Russians, let us know by using the comment button below.

Two Hot New Books

A couple of very different brand new books have been getting lots of attention from customers lately: The Zanzibar Chest by Aidan Hartley is part mystery, part memoir that is a story of life in post-colonial Africa, which must necessarily touch upon the history of colonialism as well as all too recent war and genocide. Here is an excerpt. Completely unrelated but also very interesting is Where’d You Get Those? New York City’s Sneaker Culture: 1960-1987 a pictorial history of playground basketball and the footwear that accompanied it by Bobbito Garcia, writer for Vibe, world-class DJ, “basketball performer,” and world-renowned break-dancer. For pics of the hot kicks… go here.

Katie writes in with this question:When I was in Rome I read I, Claudius [by Robert Graves] and loved it. Now I'm looking for other historical fiction, of any period or nationality, that does a comparable job of bringing a time and place to life and maintaining some literary credibility. Any suggestions?According to Wikipedia, not the definitive source in this realm but a decent enough place to start, a work of historical fiction can be defined as one in which "the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author." This is a bit broad for my taste, but I think it's a good place to start. Going by this definition, a lot of books that we think of first as fiction could also qualify as historical fiction. Some of my favorite books by contemporary authors fall into this category. T.C. Boyle's Water Music is about a Scottish explorer in Africa in the late 18th century, and Edward P. Jones' book The Known World is about black slave owners in Virginia in the 1840s. Another example of a book like these is Charles Frazier's Civil War novel, Cold Mountain.But these books aren't really historical fiction in the same way that I, Claudius is historical fiction. Traditionally, in historical fiction, the history is like another character in the novel, and the action is more likely to be ripped from the history books, as it were, placing the reader in a novelized version of true historical events. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell about Atlanta during the Civil War is a famous example. Another is James Clavell's Shogun about the 16th century exploration of Asia. Of the few historical novels I've read, my favorite would have to be Leon Uris' Trinity, a powerful epic about the Irish struggle for independence at the turn of the 20th century.There is also historical fiction that hews closely to a particular niche, like the Aubrey/Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series, both of which take place during the time when tall-masted ships ruled the high seas. The there's Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series, which is prehistoric, historical fiction. I know, crazy.I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there who have historical fiction to recommend, so please share in the comments, and thanks, Katie, for your question.Update: Jenny exposes my unfamiliarity with historical fiction by suggesting many, many fantastic-sounding books in the comments. Check it out, and leave some more suggestions if you've get them.

My good and old friend Emre writes in with this somewhat obscure question that was nonetheless enjoyable to research.Have you read anything by Alex Grijelmo, and would you by any chance know of his La Seduccion de las Palabras and if it is translated to English yet?I have not read anything by Alex Grijelmo, and, in fact, I had not even heard of him until I received this email. But a little research revealed that he is the editor of El Pais, one of Spain's more popular newspapers. In fact, I remember seeing it all over Barcelona when I was there in 2003. Not only is Grijelmo an editor, he is also the author of El Pais' style guide. Now that I am a journalism student, I have quickly become acquainted with the notion of the "style guide." Such guides are essential for keeping the grammar, punctuation and usage consistent in a given publication, and many publications have their own in house versions. The New York Times has one, but the most popular is the AP Style Guide (I'm pretty much required to keep this one on my person at all times these days). But Grijelmo isn't just a grammar nut. He has also written books about language that go beyond the rules and regulations. For example, the title of the book you mention can be loosely translated as The Seduction of Words, and it appears as though Grijelmo, aside from being a well-known journalist, is something of a Spanish William Safire; that is, a writer who discusses language not just codifies it. Sadly, none of his books have been translated into English, and since his books seem to be about the Spanish language itself, it would seem unlikely that they could successfully be translated into English. If anyone else out there knows anything about Grijelmo, please comment, for Emre's sake!(Speaking of Safire, have a look at his op-ed about the government's no-holds-barred hunt for unnamed sources.)

Judy writes in looking for something to read on an upcoming trip abroad:I am going to Paris for a week in April. I want to read at least a couple novels set in Paris before I go. I want them to be contemporary (as in written recently) by a French author but translated into English. Any suggestions?I've read a number of novels set in Paris, and I've read some contemporary French fiction, but I can't recall having read any contemporary French fiction set in Paris. So, to help me find an answer to this one, I turned to the Complete Review, my favorite spot for learning about contemporary literature in translation. After pouring over the French language selections there, I came up with a few of possibilities, but I would encourage those with more knowledge in this area than me to please share some recommendations in the comments.Here's what I've got. Though not technically contemporary, the book that ended up at the top of my list was Raymond Queneau'sZazie in the Metro. Here's the book description: "Impish, foul-mouthed Zazie arrives in Paris from the country to stay with Gabriel, her female-impersonator uncle. All she really wants to do is ride the metro, but finding it shut because of a strike, Zazie looks for other means of amusement and is soon caught up in a comic adventure that becomes wilder and more manic by the minute." I thought this book would work well because it sounds like a light read and because the main character is a newcomer to Paris and thus will bring an outsider's point of view that may be appreciated by a visitor to the city. The Last Days, meanwhile, is a fictionalized tale of Queneau's own arrival in Paris from the countryside as a student in the 1920s. Queneau's The Flight of Icarus is set in Paris even further back, in the 1890s, and is about a French author, who has lost the main character of his book, Icarus, and is searching for him.Moving on to more recent books, Daniel Pennac's "Malaussene Saga" is a series of comic mystery novels set in the Belleville quarter of Paris and follows Benjamin Malaussene, a professional "scapegoat" who takes the blame for all sorts of problems. The books are quite popular and by all accounts very entertaining. Based on what I know about the series, I suspect the books would likely make good airplane reading. The five-book series begins with The Scapegoat and continues with The Fairy Gunmother, Write to Kill, Monsieur Malaussene, and Passion Fruit. If you are looking for a more serious thriller, Have Mercy on Us All by Fred Vargas may fit the bill. PW says, "A bestseller in France, Vargas's U.S. debut presents a riveting blend of biothriller and historical cryptology: it takes a close look at the threat of bubonic plague to modern-day Paris."Finally, perhaps you will want to delve into a novel that provides a picture of Paris that most visitors likely do not see, a book that takes on one of the main challenges facing France today, the influx of immigrants and the difficulties of integrating them into French society. The riots that erupted in the poor suburbs of France brought this issue to international attention last year. In Kiffe Kiffe TomorrowFaiza Guene, whose parents were Algerian immigrants and who grew up in a housing project outside Paris, delivers a story set in those projects that follows a teenage girl named Doria. PW says of the book, "Throughout, the strictures of patriarchal Muslim culture clash with a nascent feminist freedom and Doria's exuberant, sophisticated teen talk. This small novel reads like a quiet celebration within a chaotic ghetto."If anyone can shed some additional light on these titles or has better suggestions, please share in the comments! Thanks for writing, Judy, and have a great trip!I should have also mentioned: Emre's recent post about some contemporary French fiction he read.

Ms. Millions writes in with this culinary question:I came across this article in the NYTimes Dining + Wine section with a book mention, Know anything about it? Got any other great cookbook recommendations? I know Edan does..;] PS- Happy Birthday to me ;]As Ms. Millions certainly knows, I am no master of haute cuisine -- I once made gazpacho from scratch, but it took me six hours -- but I do have a sweet tooth for food writing. And it is in this capacity that I first encountered the inspiration for the article mentioned above, Ferran Adria. If memory serves, there is an essay in one of the two Jeffrey Steingarten books, The Man Who Ate Everything or It Must've Been Something I Ate, in which Steingarten makes a pilgrimage to Adria's outlandish restaurant, El Bulli, outside Barcelona. Or maybe it was Calvin Trillin in his book, Feeding a Yen; I can't remember (I'm a glutton for food books). At any rate, Adria is a fascinating character, part mad scientist part celebrity chef. He spends six months out of the year in a lab in Barcelona devising new technologies to push the limits of cooking. He creates foams and gelatins using unexpected ingredients and he layers flavors and temperatures in his dishes in disconcerting ways. In the book Chef's Night Out, in which celebrity chefs visit one another's restaurants, Todd English (whose latest restaurant is on the Queen Mary 2) compares Adria to Willy Wonka, and Nancy Silverton of LA's own Campanile describes eating at El Bulli as "more of an artistic encounter." Adria is so out there that even the most adventurous eaters find themselves bewildered by his creations. Nonetheless, Matt Lee and Ted Lee of the Timesdecided to throw a dinner party using Adria's techniques. As a guide, they use the El Bulli cookbook, a book that sounds remarkable but appears to be very difficult to get a hold of. After searching around, it doesn't seem as though there are any books that delve into Adria's techniques, but I was able to find a couple of books that appear to blend traditional Spanish ingredients with contemporary methods. In The Slow Mediterranean KitchenPaula Wolfert applies the recent "slow food" trend to Spanish cooking, as well as other Mediterranean cuisines. And El Farol is a book full of contemporary and traditional Spanish recipes from a restaurant of the same name in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Hope this helped. Happy birthday Ms. Millions! (If any cookbook mavens out there have a hot cookbook recommendation, don't hesitate to leave a comment)